Track-sanding apparatus



April 22, 1930. J. GAPP TRACK SANDING- APPARATUS Filed'April 1, 1929 3Sheets-Sheet ZIH-VUQ'HTOL John Gap April 22, 1930. J. GAPP TRACK SANDINGAPPARATUS Filed April 1, 1929 s Sheets-Sher. 2

gwventoz Jbhn Ga J. GAPP April 22, 1930.

TRACK SANDING APPARATUS F e p l 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I VENTOR Jab/ b I6mm,

llllllllllll Patented Apr. 22, 19 36 JOHN earr, or scnanron,PENNSYLVANTA TRACK-SAN DING APPARATUS Application filed April 1,

. that, by suitable manipulation of the air valves in the cab, air willfirst be admitted into the traps for clean out purposes and 10 then forsand feeding purposes.

The invention will be understood from the following description, inwhich reference is had to the drawings, in which,

Fig. 1 is an elevation of a locomotive equipped with the improvedsanding apparatus,

Fig. is a central vertical section through one of the sand traps;

Fig. 3 is a plan View of Fig. 2';

Fig. 4 is [an end view of the same;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the 'cab air valve casing;

Fig. 6'is a section of the same on line 66 of Fig. 5 and Fig. 7 1s anend view of the same.

. In Fig. 1. the sand dome of the locomotive is shown at 1, and two sandtraps'at 2, 2. 3, 3, are the pipes leading from the cab valves 4 in cab5 to the sand traps, and 6, 6, are branch pipes leading to similar trapson the other side, not shown. 7, 7 ,are the pipes leading from the trapsto the rails. There are two control valves shown in the cab, one tosupply air to the front sanders and the other to the rear sanders. Sincethese valves are identical. as are also the traps, it will only benecessary to describe one of each.

The cab control valve 10 has a seat 8 in the casing 9,.and is pressedonto said seat by spring 11. It is opened against said spring by handleor lever 13, acting on the end of the valve rod 12.. The handle has aspring latch 14, by which it is retained in any one of three positions,the fullyclosed position shown in full lines in Fig. 6, the fully openposition shown in dotted lines in said figure, or an intermediateposition in which it admits air to the sand trap to clean out thedischarge pipe 7. 15 is a signal, such as a 1929. Serial no. 351,579.

buzzer or a whistle, which notifies the engineer that the sander isworking.

The air inlet of the sand trap is at 17, see Fig. 2, while the sandenters the trap casing 16 at 18 from the usual manifold 19. The sandfalls into the trap-shaped chamber 20 and passes out at 21 to thedischarge pipe 7. The air chamber 22 is in communication with an air jetpassage 23, leading into the bottom of the trap chamber 20 and closedbyvalve 24, held to its seat by the spring 25, which is so adjusted thatit yields when full air pressure is turned on, allowing valve 24 to openand a jet of ,air to enter the trap to force the sand into the dischar epipe 7 Another passage 26 leads from tie chamber 22 to the sand outlet21, immediately above the top of pipe 7. This is for clean out purposesand at this time the jet valve 24 remains closed. But when fullairpressure is admitted to chamber 22, it acts upon the head 28 of thevalve 27, normally held open by spring 29, to close the passage 26, andopens the jet valve 24 against the force of its spring 25. There is alsoa small passage 30 between the chamber 22 and the passage 26, which isalways open, so that some. air canfiow I through said passage, even whenvalve 27 is closed, to assist the. air jet from passage 23 in feedingthe sand into the discharge pipe.

In practice, the engineer sets the cab valve 10 to the intermediate or'clean out positlon, which permits a restricted flow of air to chamber22 of the trap, the pressure being insufiicient to close valve 27 or-toopen valve 24, so that the air flows directly through passage 26 toclean out the pipe 7. Then he moves'the valve handle 13 to the full openposition of the valve 10, admitting a greater flow of air to the sandtrap. This air is under suficient pressure to close the valve 27 and toopen the check valve 24, and the jet of air, issuing through the latter,feeds the sand from the trap to the discharge ipe 7, assisted by theadditional air, owing through passages 30 and 26.

Clean out plugs are provided at 31, 32 and 33 no manual operation isrequired at the traps,

It will be seen that, with this apparatus, 7

the alternate cleaning out and sanding operations being controlled fromthe cab by manipulation of the air valves.

Having thus described my lnvention, what I claim is:

1. Track sanding apparatus, comprising a sand trap having an air chamberand a sand chamber, an air jet passage between said chambers, a checkvalve normally closing said passage, a clean out passage between saidchambers, a piston valve to close said clean out passage but normallyheld open, and an air valve to control the supply of air to said airchamber.

2. Track sanding apparatus, comprising anair control valve, means tohold said valve in open, closed or intermediate position, a sand traphaving an air chamber and a sand chamber, a pipe between said valve andsaid air chamber, a clean out passage between said air chamber and theoutlet of said sand chamber, a piston valve adapted to' close saidpassage, a spring to hold said valve open, an air jet passage betweensaid chambers, a check valve to close said jet passage, a spring to holdsaid check valve closed, and a bypass between said air chamber and saidclean out passage, said springs being so adjusted that they will yieldwhen said air control valve is fully opened.

3. Track sanding apparatus, comprising a casing having an air and a sandchamber, a clean out and a sand feeding passage between said chambers, avalve in each passage, that in the clean out passage being closed andthat in said sand feeding passage being opened by full air pressure, anda control valve connected to said air chamber, whereby, when saidcontrol valve is partially opened, air flows through the clean outpassage and when said control valve is fully opened, air flows throughsaid sand feeding passage, as and for the purpose set forth.

4. Locomotive track sanding apparatus, comprising a plurality of sandtraps, a plurality of air valves, means to hold each va ve in fully openor partially open position, pipes between said valves and traps. eachtra having a clean out passage and-an air jet passage, a piston valve insaid clean out passage, a spring to hold said valve open except when thecorresponding air valve is fully open, a check valve in said air jet,passage, a spring to keep it closed except when the corresponding airvalve is fully open, and means to supply sand to said traps.

in testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JQHN GAPP,

memes

